firehose

Twitter may have been born out of San Francisco's fast moving startup culture, but its latest leader comes from a place far from it. Vivian Schiller, who will start as Twitter's first news partnerships leader in January, comes straight out of the old media world, where she's worked at a number of top organizations from NPR to The New York Times. Most recently, Schiller has been working at NBC News, and in a blog post today she explains why she's choosing to make the jump from "digital person in a media company" to "the media person in a tech company."

In part, her interest in Twitter seems to be much the same as her interest in NBC: she wants to use new technology to help media companies reach a broader audience. For her, that doesn't mean promoting the end of TV, print, and radio though. "The cash cow must be protected," Schiller writes. "This is not a criticism by any means; it is a fact." Schiller says that these traditional mediums still bring in the majority of revenue for old media companies, and that for now, protecting this status quo is important. "Legacy dollars pay for foreign and investigative coverage that most startups can ill afford," she writes.

"There is a sense that anything is possible."

But even while at NBC, Schiller saw that a partnership with Twitter would be able to help introduce new ideas into the newsroom. She writes that working with partners is still "uncomfortable" for many old media companies though, and it's possible that Twitter is hoping her experience with them will making forming those partnerships a smoother process. "I've committed the last ten years of my career to finding ways to disrupt, but not destroy," Schiller writes. It seems that Twitter will allow her to continue that goal, only now from a new perspective.

Twitter has big ambitions as a platform for news, and Schiller's blog post also gives a hint as to what that might look like. "I'll continue to work toward the broader goal of Twitter as the instrument of a more informed and engaged citizenry," she writes. Among her goals will be helping news organizations reach broader audiences through Twitter. She'll also interface with Twitter's team to relay both what journalists and consumers need it to be able to do. "There is a faith that Twitter can change the world for the better," she writes. "I believe this too."

Though Schiller's new employer is located in San Francisco, she'll be sticking around the East Coast to be closer to top newsrooms. Details on her position and plans are still slim, but Schiller is being open about the difficulty of beginning it all. "Just to be clear, I know this will not be easy," she writes. But though she has concerns, her broader outlook is a positive one. "Twitter is a company as exuberantly optimistic as any I've seen since the early days of Turner," she writes. "There is a sense that anything is possible ... There is a belief that everyone who works at Twitter has the power to have a deep and lasting impact." Twitter's already had a major impact on the spread of news, and under Schiller, it certainly hopes to make that even more pronounced.

General Motors will instate Mary Barra as its chief executive officer next year, which Bloomberg reports marks the installment of the first female CEO throughout the auto industry worldwide. GM's current CEO, Dan Akerson, has held the position since 2010 and will be retiring on January 15th of next year. According to Bloomberg, Barra, 51, is a longtime GM employee who has worked her way from the ground floor up. She reportedly started as a factory intern over 30 years ago, and has worked her way up through various engineering and staff positions.

Bloomberg reports that for nearly two years now Barra has been in charge of development and quality of all GM cars and trucks. Barra has jumped around throughout the company though: she's previously worked in supply chain organization, human resources, and plant management during her long tenure at GM.  "I’m honored to lead the best team in the business and to keep our momentum at full speed," Barra says in a statement.

Developing...

The Pirate Bay's move to the Caribbean retreat of Sint Maarten this summer didn't last long, as Torrent Freak today reports its domain has been seized by authorities — ostensibly under pressure from copyright holders keen to shut the file-sharing site down. Unfortunately for them, thepiratebay.ac is already up and running in the equally obscure realm of Ascension Island. Because of its links to the UK, that mid-Atlantic volcanic island will serve as merely a halfway house en route to the Peruvian-registered thepiratebay.pe, which is where The Pirate Bay intends to operate from for the longer term. And beyond that, the group already has numerous other domain names in reserve, according to Torrent Freak, so the global game of cat and mouse with the entertainment industry's enforcers looks set to continue for a while yet.

By Nathan Grayson on December 10th, 2013 at 9:00 am.

Back in my day, getting a refund was as easy as strolling down to the local barbershop and pointing out that your trusty neighborhood mane groomer lopped off your ear instead of your hair. He/she would hand you your money, you’d hop in an ambulance, and everything would be squaresies. But times have changed. The Internet has made many of the goods and services we sacrifice our hard-earned paychecks to much less, er, tangible, and some of them can’t even properly be returned. Refunds, then, are tricky business. Steam, for instance, has pretty much just blanket-stated, “NO,” except in special, infrequent cases. GOG, however, is taking a firm stance in the opposite direction.

Here’s the full policy, straight from GOG. It comes in two flavors: 1) In the event that a game simply won’t function as advertised and 2) if you change your mind about a purchase.

“Game doesn’t work for you? Contact our support (http://www.gog.com/support) and tell us to fix it! But what if they cannot find a solution? If such a rare event should occur, we’ll give you your money back. Simple as that. If you buy a game on GOG.com and find that it doesn’t work properly on your system, and our support cannot fix the problem, you get a full refund. It’s a worldwide guarantee, and you have whole 30 days after the purchase date, to contact us about the refund.”

“There’s even more! If you bought a game by mistake, or simply changed your mind about a purchase, you can get a full refund within 14 days, as long as the game wasn’t downloaded.”

The 30-day guarantee applies to “technical problems or game-breaking bugs that prevent you from finishing your game,” so there are still some questions surrounding relative severity. What if, for instance, a glitch is game-breaking in my book, but not by GOG’s standards? Will I still get a refund? Or will GOG just tell me to glue my ear back on and deal with it?

Given, however, that GOG is DRM-free, many aspects of this program will run on the honor system. You could, for instance, simply claim your game continues to crash and burn even when it’s purring like a kitten strapped to a motorboat that happens to be directly in the crosshairs of a purrrfect sunbeam. You could claim exactly that – using those words – and no one would ever take you seriously again. But also, GOG would probably, in the end, give you your money back. However, it’s also well aware that abuse can and will happen, and it’s addressed that in an FAQ:

“If you’re being a bad person who’s abusing our trust of you and asking for a whole lot of your games to be refunded and we can’t resolve your problems, we’ll have to stop offering you refunds. So don’t be that guy. No one likes that guy.”

There’s no hard number on that darker side of the policy, but if it seems like you’re taking advantage of GOG’s kindness, the company will notify you directly.

All in all, it sounds like a step up from most digital storefronts’ return policies, especially given some older games’ propensities to stick their tongues out at newer hardware like children (or, I suppose more fittingly in this overwrought simile, extremely elderly individuals) who refuse to slurp down their mashed vegetables. It’ll be interesting to see how customers interact with the service and – in turn – how GOG chooses to shape it further down the line.

I hope other e-tailers – especially Steam – are watching. Earlier this year, Origin instated its own less restrictive (but also less helpful) 24-hour return policy, but otherwise this subject hasn’t been broached very much in the Big Leagues. That’s not to say Steam has never offered refunds (see: Dark Matter, Ashes Cricket 2013, The War Z, etc), but that’s the exception, not the rule. This needs to change now more than ever. Steam is exceedingly forward-thinking in many other areas, but its priorities are rather questionable sometimes (see also: fixing its long-troublesome offline mode).

For now, though, props to GOG for taking a big step in the right direction. Here’s hoping others follow suit sooner rather than later.

When it’s time to lay down your weary head and start counting sheep, which breed floats past your eyes? Fluffy Corriedales? Stately Wiltshire Horns? Or do Barbados Blackbellies flash their striped undersides as they leap through your imagination? Of course, subconscious desires will influence the sheep of your dreams: Deep down, are you seeking wool, meat, milk or snuggles?

With more than a thousand breeds to choose from, first-time sheep farmers must plan carefully, making sure to provide plenty of space and strong fencing.

Sheep are social animals, so they need companionship. Keep at least two sheep at a time, recommends Susan Schoenian, a sheep and goat specialist at the Western Maryland Research and Education Center. “A sheep will become very agitated if it is separated from the rest of the flock,” she explains. Sheep also enjoy human company, but ewes and wethers (castrated males) will make better pets than rams, which can become large and aggressive. Steer away from breeds like the Wiltshire Horn, of which both males and females carry horns, in favor of polled (that is, hornless) varieties. As long as you don’t mix polled and horned animals, sheep and goats can live together quite happily.

The Romney sheep, a long-wooled variety commonly raised in the UK and New Zealand.

Romney and Lincoln

Wool textures vary across breeds, with carpet-wool sheep producing fibers almost twice as thick as fine-wool sheep. If you’re looking to spin wool by hand, you may prefer long-wool breeds, such as Romneys and Lincolns. These are commonly raised in rainy places like England and New Zealand, unlike fine-wool sheep, which adapt better to arid environments, such as the American Southwest.

The Delaine Merino, one the more popular fine-wool sheep.

Delaine Merinos

For many sheep farmers, the best choice for fine wool may be Delaine Merinos, which can thrive practically anywhere. Bred for beautiful fleece and smooth skin, Delaine Merinos will produce 2 1/2 to 4 inches of top-quality wool per year. (Note: Small-scale sheep farms should hire professional shearers on an annual basis, because it’s no simple matter to relieve a sheep of its fleece.)

If you’re raising sheep for meat, the Dorper may be the perfect choice.

Dorper and Katahdin

If your primary interest is meat, consider raising hair sheep instead of wooled. “They are very easy keepers, are somewhat parasite-resistant and do not have to be sheared,” says Frank Craddock, a professor and sheep and goat specialist at Texas A&M University, who recommends the Dorper and the Katahdin breeds as best bets for small flocks. Dorper sheep sport smooth coats and are raised for mutton as well as top-of-the-line sheepskin. Katahdin are a hair breed that will shed their winter coats in colder climates during springtime. They are raised primarily for lamb meat. Both breeds are good foragers and require minimal intervention.

Sheep like the Southdown offer a mixture of both wool and meat production.

Hampshire, Suffolk or Southdown

Hair sheep make up only 10 percent of the world’s sheep population, largely because they are so useless as sweater material. If what you want is both meat and wool, then go with Hampshire, Suffolk or Southdown.

If you’ve got a hankering for sheep’s milk, look no further than East Friesian.

East Friesian or Lacaune

East Friesians have been called the Holsteins of the sheep world. Sheep’s milk is higher in fat than milk from cows or goats, and tastes sweeter than either. Yet cheeses made from sheep’s milk tend to include “more savory notes,” according to Erika Scharfen, head cheesemaker at Pennyroyal Farm in Boonville, California. Lacaune sheep produce the richest milk, used to make Roquefort cheese in southern France. But Scharfen, who also manages the dairy herd at Pennyroyal, recommends cross-breeding because “three-quarter dairy animals can be as productive as full dairy animals and tend to be heartier.” Overall, dairy sheep require more painstaking care than sheep raised for fiber or meat because they must be managed to support and extend lactation.

Ricotta di Pecora (Sheep's Milk Ricotta)

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